


On Becoming Unbecoming

by Myzic



Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Body Horror, Character Death, Gen, Not Beta Read, We die like Archival Assistants, Whumptober 2020, it kind of is? it made more sense when I first thought of it, this was supposed to be 'abandoned'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:33:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26906668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myzic/pseuds/Myzic
Summary: There was a blackness in the shadows around the corner, bending. She almost doubted her vision for a second but stumbled as the darkness ahead of her seemed to contort. The hell was that?“Who’s there?” Sasha called out, breaking the silence and praying that her words wouldn’t attract a hoard of Prentice’s things.She’d been right. It was a person, a figure, shrouded in the dark, moving without having acknowledged her presence.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956226
Kudos: 6





	On Becoming Unbecoming

She kept her ears open, listening for the slightest sound of squirming worms, rushing in masses from any corner of Artefact Storage. Sasha didn’t doubt that they could be here. It was a perfect hiding place for a living mass of… worms. Full of musty old books and infrequently inspected items. No one would have noticed them there, in the wedges of old furniture, hollowed-out books the researchers were warned off of touching with bare hands.

It felt like ages since she had been back to Artifact Storage, though it hadn’t really been that long at all. Jon sometimes got them to check for the items mentioned in some of Gertrude’s old statements they were refiling. To be honest she didn’t miss it. It had been fine initially, but something about the place. It was only that some of the items were weird. 

Weird was a mild term for what they were and something in her wondered if she’d known, even then that the things she was taking stock of in alphabetical order were other. Haunted for a lack of better words.

The thought was ridiculous. She believed in the supernatural, same as everyone else who worked at the Magnus Institute, but there had been no real knowledge of what it was that lurked in the dark when she was in research.

Thinking of things that lurked in the dark was definitely a subject better saved for when there weren’t actually things lurking in the dark though, so she shelved the notion for later.

Sasha kept her steps quiet as she entered, instinct at this point she supposed. The worms attacking the institute, they weren’t normal by any means, and honestly, it was unlikely hiding would do anything to ensure her safety, but she had to do _something_. She couldn’t just go stomping around, and besides, being in Artefact Storage could even be helpful. Maybe there was an item or obscure book that could keep her alive.

No, she shivered at the thought of using an artifact. Now that they knew the worms were unnatural— they _sang_ for god’s sake —the worst thing could do at the moment would be to take out one of the most definitely haunted artifacts for a spin on the town. 

So, Sasha strained her ears for a rushing wave of writhing worms she already knew she wouldn’t hear coming no matter how hard she listened and walked deeper into Artefact Storage. As she walked, she bent down every once in a while to pat down her legs, rubbing her fingers together to check for blood, sticky on her hands, just in case one of the buggers had burrowed their way through her skin before she noticed.

It smelled of must and rot, which she guessed must have been from the walls, seeing as the hoards of squirming larvae couldn’t have sprung out of nowhere. 

The larvae and worms that could have died, silent and unknowing in these walls, had Elias just taken the precautionary measure to clear the building for one day, and massacred the things with the CO2 in the fire alarm system. It was his fault she had to do this, sneak around the Institute, fear alight in her every bone that she was going to be _consumed._

That wasn’t fair. Elias couldn’t have guessed there would be actual walls of the things living in the same rooms they inhabited every day. The man had only barely escaped himself if he had at all. She hoped so. No matter how negligent, it would eat her alive— no that was a little too close to home right now, it would haunt her for the rest of her life if she was the last one to see their boss alive.

There was no one else around as far as she could see, which wasn’t very with how dark it was, and Sasha spared a moment to be thankful everyone seemed to have evacuated.

Quietly, though, she wished for someone’s presence at her side. Martin’s preferably, as he’d apparently been preparing for wormageddon for months now. Or Tim, Tim would be fine right now. Hell, even Jon, scared as he seemed at the moment, at least they would be scared together. 

More than that, Sasha hoped they’d all gotten out, even if that meant she was utterly alone right now.

Except, there was a blackness in the shadows around the corner, bending. She almost doubted her vision for a second but stumbled as the darkness ahead of her seemed to contort. The hell was that? 

It could be worms, a mass of them, sitting still in the darkness of Artefact Storage. Sasha imagined them waiting for her to unknowingly wander closer, before surging all at once and shivered. That didn’t seem likely, all the silvery things she’d encountered so far had attacked at first sight of another person.

Maybe it was just her eyes.

“Who’s there?” She called out anyway, breaking the silence and praying that her words wouldn’t attract a hoard of Prentice’s _things_. 

She’d been right. It was a person, a figure, shrouded in the dark, moving without having acknowledged her presence.

“Hello? I see you.” Then they turned to her and their silhouette didn’t seem to have any wriggling shapes squirming on their skin. They didn’t acknowledge her presence otherwise. Something rose in her then, indignation, a desire to be heard or at the very least noticed, some gesture to tell her they knew she was there, “I see you.”

They emerged from the dark that grew in the corners of Artefact Storage, and they were a living mass of horror. 

For a second she could see their eyes rolling, dark sockets shifting around their head before settling on a spot evenly above a lump of roiling flesh that formed a nose. Every time she saw a face in its— head? It was too formless for her to tell— It warped and twisted and her eyes blurred with the sight.

A high pitch noise was exuding from its orifices she registered, past the sound of her own scream filling her ears. Sasha knew with some horror that the sound was too loud, and with a twist of her stomach, she saw it was coming from its pores. 

It was settling into a shape now, but it was the wrong one. It was the wrong one because it was hers. Her own brown eyes, the nick on her ear from a bad haircut, the brown of her skin all stared back at her. When she was younger, she’d wished for a sibling, as so many children did, begged her parents to the inevitable response of ‘maybe’ every time. The mimicry of humanity looking at her now was reminiscent of a sibling, it shared her features, but it wasn’t a natural imitation of the genes that gave her those same traits. 

The thing staring back at her shared her mother’s hair with her and the zit on her right temple, but it wasn’t _her_.

It couldn’t possibly be. She didn’t have blue eyes, or straight brown hair, or a mole on her left knuckles. Did she? 

The knowledge tore at her. She knew it wasn’t right, that Sasha didn’t look like that, she _didn’t_. Her hands. She checked her hands but she couldn’t tell. Her hands were there, she saw them. Sasha saw them but they weren’t hers. Nothing was.

The features were Sasha’s. Sasha James. And Sasha James was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Hmm. Sasha’s characterization was hard and I’m not sure I did her justice. HMM  
> Also, Artefact Storage Artefact Storage Artefact Storage Artefact Storage Artefact Storage 
> 
> Come find me at @themagicmistress on Tumblr!


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